1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical appliances and instruments. More particularly, the present invention relates to radiopaque markers which can be attached to the outer wall portions of a vessel, the markers being of such a radiopaque nature allow inspection of their respective position by fluoroscopic examination, thus indicating the desirable pulsation of blood vessel or artery walls to which they are attached.
2. General Background and Prior Art
During certain surgical operations involving the circulatory system of a patient, portions of the circulatory system are removed from legs and grafted to the patient in the heart region. Operations of this type are known in the art as a coronary bypass. The "graft" can be a vein surgically removed from a portion of the leg and then sutured into its desirable position as is known in the art.
Complications can arise if the graft becomes clotted with blood and cannot convey the amount of blood therethrough as is desirable. If a surgeon is suspicious that such a blockage has occurred, he must now investigate the blockage by means of a complicated procedure using a catheter and injecting dye into the patient. The dye injected into the vessels will allow them to be viewed by a fluoroscope or like device during a fluoroscopic examination thereby allowing the doctor to determine whether or not the vessel has collapsed or is in fact satisfactorily conveying blood.
The catherization of a patient in this manner is time consuming, expensive, and entails a certain risk to the patient. Hospitalization of the patient is required.
Therefore, a need exits for a simple and inexpensive manner for providing a means of checking a patient at any desirable time to determine whether or not his graft (which was earlier applied during a coronary bypass or like operation) is still functioning properly and conveying blood as is desirable.